Sally made her way to the hub with a cup of coffee. She found she was finally settled in. Having a routine of grabbing a coffee and a pastry before going into work. She had also moved from the hotel to a flat that was in the same complex as the Master. It was an incredible coincidence that the same day she had come to visit him, the lady a few doors down from him had a family emergency, asking him to look after the fat when she was gone.
So, not wanting to be bothered, he asked Sally to stay there. The lady did have good taste in furnishings. She had light pastel blue walls with a number of hanging house plants that gave an airy life to the room. The sofa was soft and comforting. The more she thought to about it, the more she realized there was little she would want to change about the place, and if she had been in charge in the first place the end result would have been very close to this.
When she set down at the hub she noticed Jack frowning as he eyed his newspaper intensely. "Morning, Jack," Sally called out, hoping to distract him from whatever was bothering him. But he merely waved his hand at her. He then got up and made his way to his office without another word.
Gwen and Ianto came in a few minutes after Jack disappeared. They nearly had enough time to exchange their normal pleasantries before Jake came back into the room. "Sally, can you go home real fast?" She gave him a look, about to open her mouth to respond. "I need you to get Damien over here. I have a question for him."
She tilted her head as she considered his request. "Why do I need to go all the way home for that?"
"Because we have no other way of contacting him." Everyone looked at him as if he had sprouted a second head. "Has anyone else been able to get ahold of him indirectly?" he said defensively.
Sally walked up holding a phone up, placing it next to Jake's ear. A moment later he later he had a surprised look in his eyes. Not taking his eyes off Sally. "No, this isn't Sally, this is Jack." He put his hand up for the phone as Sally took a step back. "There is something I wanted to show you. Would you mind coming in? ...Okay, see in a few." He hung the phone up a second later before handing the phone back to her. "He gave you his phone number... He has a phone?"
"Yes, why wouldn't he? We work together, after all." Now it was Sally that everyone else was staring at.
Jack folded his hand together as he watched her. "I have known him for a little over two years and he never gave us a phone number. In fact, when I asked for his number he told me he didn't have a phone. You have known him for only three months and you're telling me he gave you a phone number to a phone he supposedly doesn't have?"
Sally had not realized that the number he'd given her was meant to be a secret. She felt like a ton of bricks hit the bottom of her stomach. How mad at her was he going to be? Then she noticed Jack's face. He had a look as he watched her. She began to worry when he broke into a large grin and looked over Sally's head to Gwen and Ianto.
Ianto rolled his eyes at him. "That doesn't prove anything.
Gwen had the same smile as Jack had on. "I don't know. I think it says something."
Sally quickly turned to face them. "No, wait-what?" She began to put together what they were implying and became very uncomfortable.
Ianto pointed at her frantically. "See, she's right. Even if there is something, her having his number doesn't prove anything. You haven't won anything."
He shook his head. "I'm one of his best friends and I don't have his number. This is the next best thing to walking in on them snogging."
Sally's face turned red. "No!" she insisted, but at this point no one seemed to be paying attention to her input on her own life. She threw her hands up at them. "Don't I get a say in this?" she asked, looking to Gwen for some backup.
She gave her an award smile before shrugging her shoulders. "I'm kinda going with Jack on this one, sorry."
"Unbelievable!" She let her arms fall down at her sides in disgust. "So even though I just said there is nothing going on between us you all still think there is?"
"I don't," Ianto was quick to answer. "He's definitely gay."
She rolled her eyes as she made her way to the door. "All of you are ridiculous."
"You still love us, Sally" Jack called out making her turn to him long enough for her not to notice Damien in the door, walking right into him.
He grabbed her around her shoulders to stop her from falling. "Hello, you," he said with a warm grin as she stared blankly at him. He turned her around and started to lead her back into the hub. "Jack somehow got my number." He leaned in so only she could hear him. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" They made it back into range of the other two before Sally could answer. "So you needed to speak to me about something, Jack. Well, I'm here. What could I do to help?"
"Yeah, I wanted you to see something." He grinned as he saw Damien's hands still placed firmly around Sally's shoulders, mistaking the gesture as something other than a threat. "But before we do that, you can answer a question we all have."
"Absolutely, what could I help you with?" He had his overdramatic smile on that Sally only assumed was his attempt to make people feel more comfortable, despite feeling like it had opposite effect on her.
"You and Sally. What's going on between you two?" Jack asked calmly
Damien's grin faltered as he eyed Sally before looking back to Jack. "Sorry, I don't follow. What do you mean, exactly?"
Jack grinned at the two of them before Sally turned to face him. "They think we are having sex."
He quickly removed his hands from her.
"Why would you tell them that?" he asked with a revolted look on his face.
"I didn't!" she tried to defend herself.
"Oh, come on. We're all friends. You can tell us," Gwen said, quite amused by it all.
"Well, to answer your question and to move on past all of this, no." They found him less than amused by all of this. "Now, if you would like my help with something a little more important, I will be more than happy to help. If not, I have far more important things that I can be working on."
The smile on Gwen and Jack faded. Jack started for his office, waving for Damien to follow.
"I told you," Sally said quietly as she passed Gwen and Ianto on her way to her desk.
Ianto stared blankly at his desk for a moment. "Yeah, definitely gay."
*****
A half hour later, both Jack and Damien came from his office as everyone turned back to their desks, pretending to work.
"You're absolutely right, Jack. We will have to look into this" Damien said, his attention on some papers in his hands. "If you're right, then we will have to find out what is causing this and deal with it right away. Who knows how far this problem reaches." He started to walk for the door past Sally's desk. "Sally, get your things. I'm going to need your help with this." He didn't look at her as he spoke. He also didn't notice the looks everyone else was giving him. "I'll look into some of these today. If Sally and I both go out, we should be able to get through half of these today." Sally began to gather her stuff and followed him.
"Yeah, I don't mind." Jack began. "Thanks for asking before you take my employees."
He turned for a brief moment. "You have given me a large task. I could do it myself, but it will take me a few days, and who knows if there will be more in the meantime." He held the papers above his own head. "One if these encounters was just a few hours ago. But if you insist..."
Sally stopped, not sure what was going on or where she was needed. Damien turned to Jack, already knowing what his answer would be. "Go, both of you." He waved for them to leave before going back to his office.
*****
Sally and the Master walked down the street side by side as he looked through the papers with a frown on his face. "This may actually take some time."
"Do you want to tell me what you want me to do, so I can start working on part of..." She paused, realizing she still had no idea what they were doing. "Well, you wanted me to do half of whatever it is that we are doing."
His eyes were still stuck on the page before picking his head to look up at Sally then back to the page. "Oh, no, that won't be necessary."
Sally stopped for a moment, watching him as he looks a few steps forward. "But— But you said you needed my help."
"Yes, I still may. But I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier." His tone had not changed and his eyes stayed fixed on the papers in front of him.
"I told them there wasn't anything going on. It's not my fault they can't keep their heads out of the gutter," Sally said in defense of herself now hurrying to catch up with him.
He stopped as she made her way up to him, his brow was tight as he eyed her before realizing what she had been talking about. "Oh," he had the same uncomfortable expression on his face that he had earlier. "Are you still on about that? No, I'm talking about you giving out the number for my TARDIS. No one must know about it. I'm undercover." He turned to point to a paint store. "There, over there. Come along."
As he quickened his pace, so did Sally. "You know, I don't think you have to hide who you are in front of them. I mean, they see crazy things all the time. You probably could just tell them you are having problems with your spaceship and I bet they would even help you."
He eyed the paper one last time before folding it up and placing between his arm. "Exactly. They work with stopping alien life for a living. How do you think they would react if they find out I'm not human?"
"I don't know," she said casually. "I can't speak for them all but Jack said he knew your friend and was quite fond of him."
The Master swung around quickly, now standing in front of her. "What do you mean, a friend of mine?"
Sally rolled her eyes. "Sorry, your best enemy."
"Jack knows the Doctor?" He looked off as if he was contemplating how this would impact his plans. In the end, he was content that there would be no way he could interfere with his plans, mumbling to himself before he continued toward the store. Sally walked quickly behind him.
As Sally and the Master made their way to the store, they didn't enter but went down a small alley at the side. There was enough room for them to comfortably walk down one by one, but it would have been impossible for them to walk side by side. He made his way all the way to the end before stopping. He had looked down to a person who had been sitting with their head ready against their knees. Sally count made them out but could hear the Master speaking to them.
"I don't think you are meant to be here," he said softly.
"Oh, good. I was worried you forgot about me!" the stranger said with excitement as they got to their feet.
"I'm sorry, what do you mean, you thought I forgot about you? I don't think we've ever met before." He turned enough so Sally could now see the person. His hair looked like he had not washed in weeks and his clothes were dirty, and even from the distance she was could smell an awful aroma coming from him.
"Oh! Hello, Sally." He gave her a small smile before turning back to the Master. "So is that all you need from me? Can I go home now? Please tell me I can go home now." He looked down at himself with disgust. "Or at least tell me I can take a shower and get a change of clothes. I have been here for the last eight days, just like you told me to."
"Perhaps we can go somewhere that is a little less cramped," the Master suggested, nodding to the opening to the ally so that Sally would start to walk back.
"You mean like your TARDIS?" the stranger said.
The Master turned to look at him momentarily. He was more than convinced that the man had actual met a future version of himself, but he was still lost on why he would have done this. As of now, his TARDIS was not operational. At least that meant it would be working properly before he regenerated.
Sally slowed her pace so only the Master could hear her words. "So much for undercover," she said, flashing him a small grin.
"Yes, I have no idea what I was thinking. But I'll have to figure this out soon." He gently placed his hand on her arm, guiding her and the strange man out of the ally.
*****
They did not go back to his TARDIS but to a small diner off the main highway. The man ordered a large amount of food, scarfing it down so fast Sally thought she may be sick just watching him.
"So what did I tell you to do?" the Master asked, trying to avoid directly watching him eat.
The man held up a finger, asking for a second as he took a big sip of the drink in front of him to wash down the food in his mouth. "You told me you needed me to go to different parts in time and bring some people here, now. Not here as in this diner, but this time, this year. You said after that you would find me, well, where you found me." He took another large bite out of his burger.
The Master was becoming more visibly angered by the second. "Yes, but how did you travel through time?" The Master wouldn't let just anyone pilot his TARDIS, he was sure of that.
"Ah," he began, with food still in his mouth. He learned under the table to reach into a bookbag and pulled something out, a brown wristband of some sort. Sally recognized its design but not what it was for. Jack had worn the same thing around his wrist all the time. It resembled a leather bracelet, but at the top there was a bit that bulged out, a screen that was covered by a leather flap. "You gave me this." He placed it down on the table.
The Master frowned as he picked it up. "It's a vortex manipulator. So that's how you were able to time travel." The man nodded. The prospect of this being proof that his TARDIS was up and running again in the future was unknown at this point. "Did I tell you anything else?"
The man looked as if he would say something, but a sudden fear flitted across his face. "No, nothing at all," he said hurriedly. He looked at Sally, giving her a weak smile when she noticed. He looked from Sally to the Master, an almost sad look in his eyes as he did. Sally almost questioned him, but thought better of it and kept quiet. The Master didn't notice any of this, or if he did he didn't acknowledge any of it. "All you said," the man continued, "was to come to this time, set these numbers in, wait 'til you found me, and give you that back."
"I see," he said calmly, but it was clear his mind was running a thousand miles per minute. "Well, I'll just be taking that back then." He held out his hand, pointing to the manipulator.
The man moved as if to hand it over to him, but hesitated. He looked over the Master, more suspicious than before. "You never told me your name," he said, pulling the device in front of himself again.
"Well, you told me yourself that I was the one who gave you this instruction. I assumed you already knew it." He kept his hand lingering in the air, indicating that he still very much wanted it back.
"You didn't ask me my name either," he said coldly, pulling the device closer. "I think I'll be the one to hand this back to Jack. After all, it is his, right?"
The Master pulled his hand back, the anger in his face disappearing.
Sally's face dropped as he said this. The realization she had not asked or told him who she was came creeping over her. "Oh my God, we didn't!" she said in embarrassment, trying to think of anything to say to make up for being so rude. She extended her hand. "I'm Sally Armstrong, and this here is..." She quickly glanced over to him, not wanting to say the wrong name.
"Damien Scott," he answered for her. He had one of his grins on now.
The man did not. His face was still as cold as before. "I know," he said, the venom in his words directed at the Master rather than Sally.
"I am terribly sorry for being rude like that. It's just that Jack and Gwen were giving me a hard time about him—" She tilted her head slightly to the right to nod at the Master. "—and then there was all this stuff. I hope you can forgive me..." Her eyes grew large as she realized the second thing she had forgotten that day. "Wait, you said you know Jack?" She smiled at him, trying to warm his mood.
It seemed to work a little because when he turned to her, something resembling a smile came across his face. Placing his left hand firmly on the device, he brought up his right. "I'm Tom. And yes, I know Jack. I work for him." His demeanor seemed to change as he spoke. He made a small sound as if he was laughing at himself. "It's strange, introducing myself to someone I already know." He moved his other hand back on top of the other. "It's nice to know Gwen is there too. Hey, do you think we can go there after we're done here? I want to give this back to Jack and maybe grab a shower."
"Of course," the Master said, his teeth baring as he smiled. "And perhaps after that, we can put all this nastiness behind us and start over. After all, the only reason I had been so insistent on you giving me the vortex manipulator was because I didn't realize you knew Jack. We are, after all, co-workers, and should be able to get along better then we have." He began to flag the waitress down.
Tom nodded, but there was something unsettling about his eyes while the Master spoke. "I should hit the restroom before we leave." He got up, leaving the vortex manipulator on the table. The Master eyed it as he spoke with the waitress, waiting until the man was out of sight to reach for it. But after taking only a few steps, Tom turned around to reach for it before continuing to the back of the restaurant.
The Master raised his fist high and drove it down onto the surface of the table. To Sally's surprise, it made next to no sound when his hand and the table met. "Damn it! I need to get my hands on that before he gets it back to Jack."
Sally's smile was gone. "How long do you need it for?" she asked quietly.
"Hm? Oh, I'll only need it for, oh, five microspans," he said, keeping his eyes on the door Tom had gone into. Sally glanced over to him, and without her having to ask, he answered. "Two and a half minutes."
"Alright, I can do that. Just hang back when we leave." She too was eyeing the door, with the same cold stare as the Master.
His concentration broken, he swiveled on his seat. "What do you mean, you can do it? How?"
She smiled as her gaze met his. "I'm a woman. Besides, you saw how he was looking at me."
The Master squinted at her for a moment. At that, she did the same, just more exaggerated. Not being able to hold a serious face, she found a grin on her face, trying to hold back from laughing at him. It wasn't long before he broke down, reflecting her expression onto his own face.
"Are you ready?" a voice from above them asked. Tom had made it back to the table without Sally realizing it.
The Master began to get out of his chair. "But of course! Lead the way. I assume you do know the way from here. Right?"
Tom slowly nodded as the three of the left. Once they made it outside, Sally let him get ahead and gave the Master a wink before going slightly faster to catch up with him. She walked so there was very little distance between the two of them.
She started off with small talk, and when he seemed to be warming up to him she nudged his side in a playful way. "So, future co-worker. How long have you been working for Torchwood?"
"I don't know if I should talk to you about this," he said nervously.
"Oh? I suppose you're right. It's still kind of cool, you have to admit that." She still had a broad grin, doing her best to warm up to him.
He didn't say anything right away, staring at his feet before quickly glancing up and then down again. "Have you ever seen a TV show from the beginning, and you get to know all the characters and it feels... safe, but the show had been on the air for years and there are five seasons after the one you watch, and you go and you watch the new one by mistake? But everything is different. Like, people who you thought would be together hate each other, or people who hated each other are boning and nothing feels safe, everything just feels off. And you know if you only saw how things unfolded it would be okay, but now that you know how it ends it's ruined the old seasons as well." He glanced up at Sally, who didn't know how to respond so she just faked a smile and nodded a bit. "Yeah, I know, it doesn't make any sense, but neither does you being nice to me. From day one, you didn't trust or like me. Now you're being the nicest person in the world to me."
Sally, not knowing what to say but determined to meet her objective, rattled her brain. The two of them walked in silence for a long time. Suddenly the conclusion to her dilemma struck her. She took a few steps ahead of Tom, stopping him in his path. "What if!" she said, loudly and enthusiastically, walking backward as she spoke. "What if the only reason I was like that to you was that you told me I was? What if we could start over right now and be friends?" She gave him a warm smile as she spoke.
"I don't know about that." He eyed her with a neutral stare, about to make more points to back his claim up.
"Don't be silly! Of course we can." She stopped moving to spread out her arms, asking for a hug. "Please, Tom. I would so love for us to be friends. Come on."
When he finally gave in and embraced her, she shot a look over his shoulder to the Master, who quickly walked up behind him. Instead of grabbing for the manipulator that was seated on the back of his belt, he placed his hands on Tom's shoulders. "What is that?" He pointed to some trees ahead of them. "Is that...? Oh, I think it is! It's a nightingale." As the other two looked he gently slid the manipulator off the man's belt. "You know, I don't think they are very common around these parts." He took a few steps back before placing both hands behind his back, resuming the same distance he had before.
Sally twirled around to Tom's left side and reached for his hand. "I'm glad we're friends now," she said with a warm smile. He smiled back, and was still smiling a few minutes later when Sally distracted him again with the sunset as the Master slipped the manipulator back on his belt.